Enfield Voters OK $103M High School Consolidation

ENFIELD — — The town plans to move forward with construction bids and putting crosstown rivalries aside after voters approved a $103 million plan this week to consolidate Enfield's two high schools over the next five years.

By a 2 to 1 margin, residents voted yes on a referendum question that authorized the town to secure funding for the expansion of Enfield High School, a "renovate-as-new" project that is expected to receive about 66 percent state reimbursement. The town would pay no more than $35 million through bonding.

Town Manager Matthew Coppler said Wednesday that the town council will need to appoint a building committee soon to oversee the project. The town will solicit bids in coming months.

Coppler estimated that construction could begin as early as next summer or fall 2013, with Enrico Fermi High School students fully moved into an expanded Enfield High by September 2017.

The town began seriously considering a consolidation around 2009, he said, because of dwindling student enrollment and rising costs to support two high schools, each with a limited curriculum.

An advocacy group called Enfield's Future financed an informational campaign in recent months urging the referendum's passage.

Under the town's plans, Enfield High will expand an extra 120,000 square feet from its current size and feature a new, four-story S.T.E.A.M. wing for science, technology, engineering, art and math. Officials said there would be a bigger focus on music and more Advanced Placement and technical courses.

"A huge thank you to the people of Enfield for their wisdom," Superintendent Jeffrey Schumann said. "Enfield students will have an incredible opportunity."

But not everyone viewed the consolidation that way.

Gina Picard, a mother of three Enfield students, including a daughter who attends Fermi, said Wednesday that she voted no and is frustrated enough with the changes to the town's educational system that her family may sell its home and move out of town.

"I think they're wasting their money," Picard said. "If they were going to do it, they should have updated Fermi. It's a newer school."

At Fermi, 17-year-old senior Samantha Geissler said, "I'm not OK with it. I feel like there's going to be a lot of problems, especially with the rivalry that's been going on for so long ... And it's just kind of sad to be like, yeah, my high school's gone now."

Fellow senior Shanyn Dudley, 17, also lamented the eventual end of Fermi but said she welcomed the benefits of a renovated school: "We'll have more technology."

School officials will have to decide how to combine the Enfield High and Fermi staff, Schumann said.

Another issue will be how to unite the traditions of Enfield High's Raiders with those of the Fermi Falcons. The latter school opened about four decades ago, a few years after the current Enfield High building, and is named after the Italian physicist.

The schools have shared an intense rivalry that used to culminate with the annual Fermi-Enfield Thanksgiving football game that began in 1972 but concluded in 2009 after a league change.

"I think it'll be good for the town," Enfield High senior Michael Crowley, 17, said of the consolidation. "Start focusing on out-of-town rivalries."

The town may consider a different school name and mascot for the renovated campus.

"Those will be very important decisions," Schumann said. "I'm sure the stakeholders of the community will make their opinions known."

Mayor Scott Kaupin said some residents have suggested using Fermi as a new location for John F. Kennedy Middle School. The town has also floated the idea of converting Fermi into a community center and library, if the school board gives up the property.

On Tuesday, Enfield residents also voted to elect Democrat David Alexander over Republican Tom Sirard for the 58th House District seat, according to unofficial tallies. They also helped elect Republican incumbent John Kissel for the 7th Senate District seat over Democratic challenger Karen Jarmoc.

In the 59th House District race, Democratic incumbent David Kiner beat GOP challenger Joe Bosco.